


I Owe You as You Owe Me

by RubixaSeraph



Series: DMC Community Projects [5]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Confessions, F/M, For the most part, Trish is a good friend, a happy future, one sided pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26871406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubixaSeraph/pseuds/RubixaSeraph
Summary: In which Lady is no better than Dante when it comes to communicating, and maybe the two of them ought to take some advice from Vergil: If you want it, you have to take it for yourself.Or, better yet: speak up and be straightforward.New things can be scary, and Lady, for all her bravado, might not be as courageous as she seems, when feelings get involved.In the end, what she owed him was an explanation, and the truth of her feelings. And the only thing he owed her was a response.Only from there could they move forward, but perhaps Lady could finally live a life where she could say she achieved happiness.For DMC Week 2020, Day 5: Hurt | Heal | Happiness
Relationships: Dante/Lady (Devil May Cry), Kyrie/Nero (Devil May Cry), Lady & Trish (Devil May Cry)
Series: DMC Community Projects [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953397
Comments: 11
Kudos: 46





	I Owe You as You Owe Me

**Author's Note:**

> \- I love my OCs. But whenever something pokes at me to give Lady some love, my instinct is to ship her with either Dante or Vergil. (Mostly Dante.)  
> \- Honestly this is my first time writing for Lady.  
> \- I chose to make her someone who thought she had all her shit together but in reality she still needs some work.  
> \- Nico said she might be a bit crazy. I reflect that here by making her pine, deny herself courage, and make some decisions a bit late (but better than never.)  
> \- Also I like to interpret Trish’s relationship with Dante as something sisterly.

Lady did not think that her confrontation with her father was going to end with her coming out of things alive. 

And in a way, it did not. 

Mary died that day. 

She died in order to bury the shattered past wrought by her father. 

She died in order to put a bullet through her father’s head. 

She knew that her quest for vengeance wasn’t going to heal her soul, but by that point, she was too far gone into the pain to care. 

But life was funny in the way that it would rather her live. 

Not as Mary, but to be reborn as Lady. Ironically re-christened by a devil…

A half-devil, as she was reminded of now that she thought about Dante. 

How this guy could be so infuriating and childish was beyond her. But more than that, she was pretty crazy to continue to associate with him since meeting him. Before she knew it, Redgrave was no longer just a city she was passing by to hunt down her father. 

She actually continued to travel, always staying at cheap motels, camping out, taking up what work she could in order to rid the world of more of the filth that comes crawling out of hell. But eventually, she would always return back to Redgrave, to check up on Dante. 

Her excuses often felt weak to herself, but Dante never seemed to catch on or call her out for it. She used the excuse that he owed her money to crash at his office, which was a mess almost every time she visited. There were eventually a few additions to the furniture, and if the place ever stayed organized, it could be a quaint and classy shop. 

She didn't stop pestering him about the money he owed her, especially for the motorcycle. But after a certain point, she got over the bike but continued to pester him with the topic because she didn't know how else to interact with him.

And it seemed he didn't quite know how to interact with her, either. Sure, he would grin when he saw her, occasionally call her babe, and argue with her over finances and lifestyle choices...

But he never made a move on her. 

She supposed she did shoot him down twice already, verbally and literally. 

And so, her young-adult heart naively told herself: whatever chances there were, it had passed. She couldn't take back her decision, and she won't. 

But she will stick around. She will check in on him

Because they both have a lot of healing to do. 

And as the years went on, she began to feel uncomfortable about how he never truly got mad at her for taking more of a cut of money, or for hounding him about his debt. 

(It was as if it became both of their excuses to interact with each other, and she was afraid to fix something she didn't know how to fix.)

* * *

Lady cursed herself for being out of town and out of touch for enough months to have missed out on events that Dante should have told her about. 

Instead, he said nothing about it, and every time she asked him if he were okay, he would deflect with an easy smile that she was starting to hate, and made some sort of joke to detract from the topic. 

This went on for _three, fucking, years_. 

She had begun to distance herself a little, afraid to get too attached to Dante since she couldn’t figure out how else to interact with him beyond their usual financial arguments and her teasing. And her distance caused her to completely miss the presence of Trish during the time the devil-woman had stayed at Devil May Cry. 

When she first decided to bring Trish up to Dante, the way he acted worried her. She made the decision to come to him because she had seen the photo at his desk plenty of times, and a demoness wearing his mother’s face spelled for trouble. But her worry was brushed aside with a careless “never heard of her.” (Granted, she did not bring up her observation in fear that she may have just been projecting the features of a photograph onto the devil woman, but she would have thought Dante might have cared a bit more about a devil in the territory. And her gunfighting style felt too close to Dante’s to be a coincidence.)

And it made Lady feel upset. 

Whomever this devil was, Lady felt that she needed to deal with her not only because she was obligated to deal with creatures crawling out of hell, but also she was afraid this devil would hurt Dante. 

It was a laughable thought, but Lady knew better than anyone that no one was invincible, especially when it came to the matters of the heart.

...Well, by the end of the day, though it was relieving that Trish was actually an okay devil (and still, the only reason Lady doesn’t tell an “okay devil” to beat it out of town was because she was Dante’s friend,) Lady was still plenty annoyed at Dante for not saying anything.

Annoyed enough, that she thought… fine, if Dante doesn’t care enough to tell her important things like this, then she’s going to blow off steam by blowing off his money on clothes. 

Which was a little out of character of her. Though she does have specific tastes in clothes, money could be better used towards hunting tools. Yet, a part of her had hoped that, after receiving the bill on something so frivolous, Dante might actually _care_ about how she felt about all of this. 

Surprisingly, Trish picked the same opportunity to stick Dante with a bill. And just from their moment of clearing up the stupid misunderstanding between all three of them, Lady found that she could come to like Trish.

And Lady had to admit, devil or not, Trish had oomph and style both. So, the obligatory thing to do when a new friendship was formed between comrades that work the same job, was to go out for a drink, right?

“You do realize that human liqueur can’t get a devil drunk, right?” Trish had first told her.

And Lady just snorted. “As if I didn’t find that out from Dante already.”

Trish simply nodded. “For the social event, then. Let’s toast to a friendship courtesy of our mutual friend.” The sarcasm wasn’t missed. 

Eventually, a drink or two at the bar transitioned into buying a pack of beers and drinking at Lady’s apartment. She had questions, and Trish has some answers that didn’t need to be overheard. 

By the end of it all, she was more than buzzed and maybe drunk, and Trish watched with passing amusement as Lady crushed an empty beer can: “Damnit. Damn it all, Dante. Why didn’t you tell me? I could have gone with you…”

“In the position I am now, I would advise against it. Hell is not a place for mortals. It would have tried to swallow your sanity the moment you entered.”

Her words went in one ear and out the other, though. Lady rambled on: “He shouldn’t have to go through that again… parting ways was bad enough. Killing him, though… that does things to your soul…”

Trish didn’t have any response to that. 

And Lady appraised her, drunkenly. 

“Geez, it’s weird, when I remember that you’re supposed to look like Dante’s mom.”

While Lady sunk herself languidly into her couch, Trish, sober as expected, feigned nonchalance as she inspected her nails and said: “Her face, only. Dante said I would never have her soul, or her fire.”

Lady sucked in a breath, knowing that mothers were a sensitive topic to her and Dante both. 

“But I don’t want her soul. And I have lit my own fire. I despised my time under Mundus.”

Opening another can of beer, Lady nodded. Maybe it was the alcohol. Or maybe she’s been affected by her friendship with Dante, but she wanted to know more about how this devil felt: “Was it bad?”

“At first, no. At first, I only knew how to react to commands under fear. Mundus did not tolerate weakness or failures. I have also heard that I was not the first artificial devil he tried to create. I was simply the one that was a success.” Despite not being able to be affected by alcohol without an absorbent amount of it, Trish seemed to enjoy the taste, and she reached for another fresh can, also. 

“I was created, at first, for the purpose of brainwashing Vergil into the Nelo Angelo.” 

Something within Lady’s heart ached. “That’s so cruel. Vergil was an ass, but even that is cruel…” 

“I knew cruelness only as power, at the time. In imitating his mother, I had some power over him. But over time, I asked myself: why did I always have to live in fear of Mundus? My answer, at the time, was because I was weak. So I continued on living that way, deceiving Nelo Angelo, until one day, Mundus caught wind that there was a second Son of Sparda.”

And so, Trish told of how she was made to find a crack between the veil just big enough for her, and carefully gathered information on Dante. How she came to two conclusions while she was in the human realm:

That her death was guaranteed if she tried the same trick on Dante as Mundus had trained her to deal with Vergil. 

And that she preferred the freedom and individuality she could have if she were to break free of the Underworld. 

“You found yourself.” Lady nodded, not exactly sure what she meant by those words. 

“I owe it to Dante’s mercy, even if I’ve come to learn that he has a lot of shortcomings despite his qualities.”

The rest of the conversation became something of a blur for Lady. The only thing she could really remember by the time she was falling asleep, was the question of: what about herself? Did she find herself, in becoming Lady?

Or was she just trying to hide from her pain and her past, by wearing the mask that Dante had given her?

Could she even compare to the spark that was Trish?

* * *

Dante jumped into hell.

And when Lady first heard about it, she couldn’t fathom why. 

She was prepared to scream at him when he came back. (Please, come back.)

When she first heard of it, she freaked out the moment she had a second to herself, in her apartment. 

And she was not one to freak out like this. (She wasn’t a young girl anymore, shocked by the cruelness of a father who was willing to sacrifice her mother for power. She wasn’t a teenager anymore, still trying to prove her mettle against demons to prepare for her revenge.)

Why must Dante leave?

What if he never comes back?

Lady liked the devil woman Lucia less than she liked Trish. 

She wouldn’t admit it but Lucia’s clear interest in Dante had her bristling. 

Time went on. The first few days, her head was full of thoughts about how she should have approached him differently over time. Maybe she should have done more for him, to make him think twice of leaving them (her) all behind. 

She was afraid that Dante finally decided to agree with Vergil, and leave unto the Underworld. 

And for the first time, since she had met him 13 years ago, she asked herself: _Should I have just admitted, that for all his faults, there would be no one out there that I would care for more than I do for him?_

Would he have cared to stay, for her, if she had admitted these feelings to him?

That she didn’t want to see him hurt anymore. That she cared for him. That she wanted him at her back and wanted to be at his?

A month passed. And then another. 

Patty continued to dust the office. So Lady paid a month of the office’s bills. 

Another month passes. She paid another month of water, phone, and electricity. 

Trish stopped by, and they both took advantage of the alcohol that Dante kept in the office, making use of his bar. After all, if he wasn’t here to drink it, then they might as well. 

“The lights are still on.” Trish noted. 

“Well, it would make Patty upset if this place collected dust while he was gone. Keeping the lights on so she can clean… and have a place to visit.”

Trish hummed, but didn’t say anything as she sipped her drink. She then asked: “Have you also been paying his monthly contributions for the girls?”

“His… what?” Nothing came to her mind at those words, other than it sounded suspiciously like he was paying some sort of _child support_. And for all she knew, he just might be. 

But at that thought, she again felt a pang of unexplained heartache. Meeting just a few times a year really didn’t keep her in the loop, did it?

“He has some sort of bank account open to deposit money to for two girls. Daughters of a friend of his from his merc days as a teen, he said. I only pried the story out of him when I tried to help him manage his books. He would miss his bills but wouldn’t negotiate on missing the amount to deposit for those girls. And that bank account is the only thing he kept detailed records for. The amount he’d deposit had only gone up in the years.”

Lady’s wide-eyed stare did not go unnoticed. How did she not know this had been going on?

And Trish seemed to take pity on her. The demoness left the bar counter gracefully as ever, and went towards Dante’s desk. Knowing exactly where he kept the documents, she pulled open the drawer and dug through it. 

Not certain on what she should do, Lady sat awkwardly at the bar and watched Trish pull out some documents, read through them, and announced: “He planned on being gone for a while, it seems. This was probably all of what he had for emergency funds, too. And it’s all been deposited before he left for Dunmary.”

“...How much?” She asked, wondering if the answer would give her insight, or give her hope on when he could be back. 

“A little over three months worth, if he hadn’t increased the amount he provides yet again.”

And another month passed. 

Trish and Lady met up again. 

“If he doesn’t come back in another half a month, I’ll give Morrison the usual amount he sends to those girls.” Trish said before Lady could say anything. 

“What if he doesn’t come back?” She asked. 

“He will. But even if it takes him years, I’ll pick up where he left off for those girls.”

“Have you ever met them?” Suddenly, Lady felt like she was very out of touch with Dante’s life. She had thought she knew everything she needed, from one shared traumatic event. 

“No. Never seen them, either. In fact, Dante’s never visited them since their father died. He knows though, that they have been making use of his contributions, and that’s enough for him.”

“Then why?”

“Why what?”

Trish likely knew what she was asking, but she was making her elaborate anyway. 

“Why would you… What do you…” She couldn’t find the right words. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Trish to care. She found her help equally touching and frustrating. But Lady had to admit to herself, on some levels, she dug her own grave. Sure, she checked up on Dante here and there, but she wasn’t really there for him in any substantial way, was she?

“He saved my life, you know.” Trish seemed to change the topic, but she was really answering Lady’s question. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. I wouldn’t be _me_ if it weren’t for him. And I have a lot to gain, to continue to uphold the things he holds dear.”

Her last sentence didn’t really make sense to her. 

“What do you mean you have a lot to gain?”

“It means that, for all of his faults, he’s still my example to follow, just as Sparda is an example to follow, for a devil like me. I will never be human, but I have come to think of this world as my home. And though the Underworld calls Sparda a traitor, none could deny his strength. And by this point, none can deny Dante’s strength, either.” Again, Trish explained with such a mysterious air, but Lady suddenly realized what she meant. 

“You’re speaking of Underworld politics. You… being associated with him is good for you…? That’s hard to put into perspective here, you know…” She felt dumbfounded. And Trish smirked. 

“From the human standpoint, and even some of my personal standpoints, yes. He certainly doesn’t seem like much in the general every day aspect, does he? Cute, but sometimes too much like a puppy for a grown man. Too brash at times, too, and displays a lack of life skills despite being skilled in so many other areas. Also not great at taking care of himself.”

These were all things Lady could agree with. But somehow, she found herself feeling the need to defend him a little: “But there are certain things you can count on him for. You can count on him having a big heart, and he always gets the job done on a hunt, though with a bit of destruction involved. And sometimes we can’t say we’re any better, huh…” After all, she used a rocket launcher. That was in no way non-destructive. 

“Well, from a devil’s standpoint, the destruction is a plus to his status. But what matters in Hell is that might makes right, and you are either powerful, or manipulative, or good at hiding, or any combination of those things, in order to survive. Devils who are strong but not strong enough can find benefit in having fealty to a demon lord. Sometimes, being a subordinate guarantees that you’d live longer.”

Something didn’t add up here, however. “You don’t seem to want to be subordinate to Dante though. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever want to see that. Sounds weird.” She made a face of disgust. 

“I don’t. Well, not anymore. He shot me down the moment we escaped from Mallet. And he’s right. I should learn to live for myself, and find my own way to be who I desire to be. And I am grateful for that. So, should he ever need me, I will be there for him. It’s just that it will be on my terms.”

In the relatively short amount of time Lady has gotten to know Trish, she had to admit: the demoness has admirable character for a devil. 

“Well, I guess I’ll keep paying the utilities.” Lady decided. “Someone’s got to look after this office while he’s gone.”

She missed the way Trish gave her a wry smile, as if she knew something that Lady did not. 

So, for the following months, Trish upheld what she said she would do, and Lady paid the bills (and added it to the ledger of what Dante owed her.)

But when Dante finally came back, however, she still couldn’t make herself admit the turmoil that went through her when he had left. It was as if she had forgotten all about it, and the moment he came back, her first conversation was about debts, and she criticized him for leaving the way he did. 

And later, she convinced herself that it was best to keep that distance between them. In the time he was gone, she already felt like she had uncovered something about him that she didn’t deserve to know. 

She never brought up the bank account he had for those girls. She let Trish deal with talking to him about that. 

* * *

So, again, the years went on. She tried to visit more, and slowly, she saw how stagnant everything had become. 

Patty was growing up. Dante was definitely showing a bit of age, especially now that he started to get lazy about shaving. 

He took up less jobs, only doing just enough to keep his monthly contributions, often missing his own bills. 

And finally, Lady couldn’t take it anymore.

Something fishy was going on with her jobs being sniped, and after she looked into it, she thought it was the perfect opportunity to kick his ass into gear. 

Fortuna was shrouded in a mystery that was closely related to Sparda. And Lady knew it was a 50-50 shot. Dante could completely ignore it because he wanted to be done with his father’s bullshit. Or he’d want to investigate… perhaps with some hope that there would be something good left for him there, by his father.

A part of her was also intrigued. The question of how exactly Sparda had spent his time on earth sometimes came to mind. She knew that his scant years with Eva and their two kids were barely a drop in the bucket compared to the two millenia he spent on the mortal side of the world. 

And Fortuna was an odd city. Had the Order of the Sword always worshipped Sparda? Did that mean he technically had a cult? Or was it something that developed later? Were they actually aware that they worshipped a devil? Better yet, what made Sparda decide to rule a human city in the first place?

She was curious to see what Dante will find out there. 

She didn’t expect for him to find a part-devil brat and a broken (but now repaired) Yamato. 

She did expect for the entire situation to end up in flames, however, the moment Trish had informed them of the Order’s plans. 

And after all was said and done, she didn’t dare ask him more about the kid, Nero. 

He left the Yamato for him. That was all Lady needed to know. That was kin. The last and only, probably. And she didn’t care how they were related. Felt like she knew better than to pry or to accuse him of anything.

She wished he would tell her something, one day, on his own. 

And she wished (and was disappointed) when yet again, she came to him after taking most of his pay, and he just brushed it off and let her do as she wished. 

She wanted him to get angry at her, call her out, and break this vicious cycle she had stuck herself into on repeat.

Because she was afraid of making the first move. Afraid of changing the only routine she had with him now. Afraid that everything would fall apart if she tried. 

Trish gave her a look of utter disappointment after trying to urge Dante to say something. 

But again, Lady missed the significance of it. 

* * *

And then, it happened. 

She watched as Redgrave was taken over by a demonic tree on TV. 

She thought about the job Morrison thought Dante would need her on. 

And thought about the Ebony and Ivory. 

Things went south, and the next thing she knew, she woke up in an unfamiliar RV, to a familiar face. 

She remembered Nico. She never thought the girl would get herself tangled into all of this. And she partnered up with Nero, it seemed. 

And for the first time in decades, as the events only got worse and worse, Lady finally had a breakdown. 

It was after Nero jumped out of the RV, and after Nico had finally maneuvered them to a stop in a spot of safety. She had to run out of the RV first to hurl what little contents were in her stomach. (Ration bars, small things she nibbled on since having been rescued.)

“Sorry for the rough drive, Lady. But we made it out alive.” Nico said with pity as she poked her head out of the driver’s seat window. 

Trish stepped out also, and like a good friend, she steadied her by the arm. Lady glanced at her, and then up towards the apparent root of the Qliphoth that Nero, Dante, and apparently Vergil had gone to. 

“He’s going to lose him again…” Lady whispered. “All these years, and they were never able to reconcile, or see eye to eye. Vergil won’t back down, and Dante will fight him to the death. And Nero… Oh my god, Trish!” Though Lady believed in no god, she said it anyway, and looked over at Trish in horror:

“Do you think he’d do it? Would Nero kill Vergil? What would that do to him? _What would that do to Dante?_ ”

Trish usually matched Lady’s attitude with jests and challenges. But now, she looked almost like a fed up mother. She gave her a hard stare, and stated: “Do you really think that boy, who spent his life as an orphan and outcast who unknowingly chases after Dante’s coattails and approval, would be so easily coloured by hate for a one-time-event that he would slay his closest living blood relative?”

Taking in those words, for the first time since she was a young girl, Lady prayed. 

She prayed that they would all come home. 

She prayed that Dante wouldn’t have to lose any more family.

Because if he had to go through that again, she was certain that it would break him for good. 

And she did not have his capability of pulling people from the inferno of despair. 

* * *

“You have to say something.” Trish said as she watched Lady knock back another drink at the bar in the corner of the Devil May Cry office. “You’re reacting too badly to keep this bottled inside, and even I can tell.”

“He left the deed with _Morrison._ ” Lady hiccupped. 

“I know.” Trish nodded.

“He’s never done that before. He didn’t plan on coming back!” She wailed. 

“I know how it looks.” Trish tried to reach for the vodka bottle, though Lady pulled it out of the way from her reach. Trish could easily wrestle it from her, but she didn’t, for now. 

“And at this point, he probably still won’t be coming back! Morrison pretty much hinted that after a certain time, the deed would go to Nero. Nero deserves it, but not like this… _not like this!”_

“You really should be lamenting these feelings to Dante, and not to me.”

“He’s not here to hear them!”

“Do you really think he won’t be coming back?” Trish reached for the bottle again, and this time, Lady started sobbing and didn’t stop the demoness from prying the bottle from her hand. 

Through her choked sobbing, she lamented: “Why would he come back? He’s already prepared to leave the business to Nero. The girls he had been taking care of are grown and have a steady business to run now. Even Patty is grown, now.”

Trish remained silent this time, as Lady continued to sob. In the silence, she couldn’t stand it anymore, and continued to let the floodgates open:

“He’s leaving it all behind. He left me behind. In the end, he’s always leaving me behind. I had to wait for him when he confronted my father. Left out of the loop when he went to Mallet island. Left waiting again for him to save the day from Abigail. Left behind when he went to Dunmary. And now…”

“Do you really think Dante would give up on pizza and strawberry sundaes for the rest of his life, and stay down in Hell with Vergil?” Trish finally cut in, walking to Lady’s other side and leaned against the bar counter with her arms crossed. 

Usually, Lady would have laughed at something like this, and poked fun at Dante with Trish about his terrible living habits and lack of taste buds. (It wasn’t that Dante didn’t know what good food was. He just had a very strong and simple preference, though Lady was belatedly suspecting that it was a lack of Dante’s will to live well.)

Feeling broken and pessimistic, Lady just hiccupped and ground out: “Wanna… Wanna bet?”

“You know what? I do want to bet.” Leaning down, Trish lifted Lady’s head, forcing her to meet her gaze with puffy eyes. “I’ll bet you that he will come back, and he will come back with his brother in tow. Nero left too strong of an impression for a prospective King of Hell to not be curious. But beyond that, I believe Dante still has enough reason to want to come back. But when they do come back, you will need to talk to him. And I don’t mean in the way you have been in the past years.”

“What do I even have to say to him?” Lady wrested her face from Trish’s hand in denial. 

“Everything. Your disgusting pining, for one thing. Your refusal to tell it to him straight, that you want _him_ in your life, not his money or the debts that you hold over him with little to no real threat. When he comes back this time, you will tell him how _you_ want him to stay, Lady. Or, maybe in better terms: give him a reason to stay, and never leave you distraught like this again.”

“Why would he ever stay for someone like me…” She mumbled as she sprawled upon the counter, head thumping against the wooden surface. 

She didn’t see Trish throw hands. “I don’t know? Maybe because I think he would give in and break his stupid ‘no one is safe around me’ curse he thinks he has. Maybe because I’m just as sick as you are of seeing him be a broken shell of a man and a devil both. Maybe it’s because I think it’s time he made a proper nest for himself, one that he can come back to, and be happy with. There’s no better time than now, since Nero exists, and even Vergil is back. Maybe because I think he can finally feel more secure about the state of his life now, and it wouldn’t hurt for you to give him an extra measure of security. Because I’ve spent enough years on this side of the world to see how a true family can triumph through anything, Lady.”

“That’s a lot of maybes.” Lady could only respond groggily. “And what if they don’t come back…? What are your stakes?”

Head still down against the bar counter, she didn’t see how serious Trish looked:

“So long as he is not here, I will acquiesce to your demands. Who knows, you might never ask me anything. But should you need me for anything, then I will give you no excuse, and no refusal. That is how much I am willing to bet that he will come back, Lady.” 

And with that, Trish left the office, leaving Lady to wallow some more on her own.

“Stupid…” She finally said to the empty office. “You’re so stupid, Dante… but so am I...”

* * *

And eventually, he did come back. With Vergil in tow.

Lady heard it from Morrison, and she couldn’t sort out the emotions in her chest when she got the news. Eventually, she picked up the phone, dialed the shop’s number that she knew by heart, and prayed both for him to pick up and for him to not pick up. 

But lo and behold, he didn’t disconnect the phone. 

“Devil May Cry.”

There it was. His voice, though distorted through the old rotary handset, gave her the courage to shout through her receiver: “Bring my Kalina Ann back to my apartment, _tonight!_ And come alone!” 

Before giving him any further explanation, she hung up the phone, and sank into the nearest seat in her living room. 

The anxiety of what she had promised Trish gnawed at her, and finally she knew she couldn’t keep sitting there. She made herself a cup of tea. Two, in fact, before a knock on the door finally arrived. 

She still jumped. 

“Hey, Lady! Got your stuff.”

Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest as she undid the bolts and locks. She didn’t even bother checking through the spyhole to make sure it was him. 

And there, at the door, was Dante with both of her rocket launchers. She had been borrowing a basic one from Nico for a while, refusing for another one to be made. It was her hope that he would come back. She didn’t realize that Dante had found the original one, however. He had that one tucked under his arm, while the Kalina Ann II was on his back. 

“Missed me?” He teased with a cocky grin. She noticed that he had cleaned up a little since coming back. His hair was trimmed since the last time she saw him, and he had apparently finally shaved at some point, though there was stubble already coming in. 

She pulled him inside, slammed the door shut, and with the edges his red leather coat bunched in her fists, she rested her head against his chest, which was about as best to where she could come up to, and shouted: “Don’t you ever dare to leave like that again!”

From his shoulder, he lightly slid Kalina Ann II off and set it down against the wall behind him. The original, he also set down from under his arm. “Hey, now. Where’s this coming from all of the sudden?”

“Shut up!” She shouted.

“Uh…”

“No, don’t say a word! Don’t… I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen. I told Trish I’d talk, so I’m going to talk!”

And she waited for him to say something. Because there was no way he was going to actually comply. 

He set his hands on her shoulders, and she suddenly wondered: had they ever really touched before? 

They have fought before. But…

She glanced up.

“Okay.” He nodded. “Let’s talk.”

She lowered her head back down, and didn’t even bother to lead them to a place to sit. There, at her door, with her head still at his chest, she just about mumbled all of her words:

“Don’t leave again. Don’t go somewhere I can’t follow anymore. Trish said it’s my own fault that I never tried to chase after you in the first place, but by the time you leave to Hell, I can’t even try to follow anymore.

“Don’t try to correct me or tell me why! I know, this time, you had to. I know, Dante. If I could have the chance to have my mother back, or perhaps the hope that my father wouldn’t become the monster that he made himself into, I wouldn’t give it up, either. You brother is an ass. He has issues. But if it weren’t for what my father did, manipulating him like that…”

“Hey now, wait a minute--”

“I said shut up and let me talk!” She cut him off before he could protest. “I didn’t like Vergil. I probably still won’t like him. But this isn’t what I wanted to talk about. Dante, don’t go anymore. Every time you leave, I fear you might not come back… You kept acting like you had nothing to come back to. Even though you found Nero, he was barely a kid anymore. This time, I thought… especially now that Patty’s also an adult, you wouldn’t feel obligated to come back anymore…”

Dante let out a huff. “You say that like I’m some parent whose chicks have flown the nest. The hell did that come from, Lady? And I’m still single!”

“I told you--”

“Okay, zipping it!”

He fell silent, and for a moment, Lady was very conscious of her own breathing. 

Finally, she shifted so that her hands were repositioned, and she slid her arms about him. A hug that she’s never actually given before. 

“I don’t care about the debts, Dante. I just didn’t know how to continue interacting with you. I didn’t want to leave you alone. I wanted an excuse to check in on you. To see you. But you never actually got mad at me for all the things I say you owe me. I’ve wiped our debt clean several times, but I was too afraid to change how we interacted…”

Now, he was finally blessedly silent, listening. 

“I paid your bills again. Trish did the other portion with those girls you would never tell me about. I got it out of Morrison that they recently took over a business. A sentimental one. You were broke before the Qliphoth because you gave them a sizable amount for their startup, didn’t you?”

He didn’t really answer this time, even though she asked a question. So she continued on:

“I was stupid, to never say anything. But I wanted our continued kinship. I wanted to be there for you. But you rarely ever asked for me. And I know, in a fight, it’s more like you’ll have my back instead of the other way around. I wasn’t going to be much use for you there. But I should have…”

“Lady--”

This time, she squeezed her arms around him, and he shut up. 

“I know there’s nothing normal about me. The only thing I’ve known since the tower was to fight demons. I never stopped. I couldn’t stop. But maybe, this whole time, what I was struggling to do was to fight my own demons. I didn’t know how to live my life to the fullest anymore. I actually have a lot of money saved up that I don’t really know what to do with anymore. Hunt after hunt after hunt, afraid to let anyone else get close to me, even when I yearned for it. Afraid of betrayal. I wasn’t able to get past what my father did to my past…

“I should have told you a long time ago, that I have been scared this whole time. Scared of losing you in some way. So scared of it that I was afraid if I changed our status quo, you’d be gone.”

And Dante’s response was to lightly pat her on the shoulder, and she finally allowed him to speak: “Lady, this is some hefty stuff you’re putting down.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry you’ve felt this way for a long time, and I didn’t see it.”

“I know I call you an idiot a lot but this was my stupidity, too.”

“No, I should probably apologize to you about this. Because had you tried before, I probably would have tried to hide from you.”

Immediately, part of her heart broke at the notion of his rejection. But she picked up on something: “Before?” She looked up.

“Yeah. Look, you know what happens to me. Around me. No one is safe. I’ve got a cursed family history and a cursed existence. And you said it yourself, you’d rather die than date a devil. And honestly, dating a devil probably only brings you death. Look what happened to my mom. And from what we gathered, Nero’s mom is probably dead, too. So I’m better off keeping my hands to myself.”

“Idiot. I’m tough, and you know it’ll take a lot to bring me down. I survived your brother’s stupid asshole devil side.” Though it was more by luck that he found her useful as a demon puppet battery, instead of outright killing her. “I can survive you.”

Dante seemed like he wanted to argue, at his next inhale, but thought against it, and exhaled. Instead, he asked: “Well, thing is… that’s in the past now. I didn’t expect this sort of, uh, welcome from you. Kind of floored, to be honest. But, uh… look, I don’t think anything is going to be the same, now that Vergil’s back. So I guess, regardless, things won’t just go back to the way things were.”

“Are you happy?” She suddenly asked, and this seemed to surprise Dante.

“...I… I don’t know. I’m happy my brother is alive. I’m happy he’s agreed to come home. I guess I’m also happy that he’s agreed he’ll try to ‘work things out’ with Nero, but that’s easier said than done. But, you know… I might have gone through the wringer one too many times to think this would last.”

“You deserve to be happy, Dante. And… Welcome home.”

“...Thanks, Lady. And what about you? Are you happy?”

She had that answer at the tip of her tongue already.

“I thought I was going to be happier when I got my revenge on my father. But since then, I only felt empty. I didn’t have a proper plan after that, other than to continue to hunt demons. I was living. But I wasn’t living to my fullest, I don't think…”

“But you want to be happy, right?”

“Yes. I do. But… I guess I should give it some thought. It’s been too long. Pretty late to be asking myself these questions. What a fool I am.”

“Hey, as the saying goes, better late than never, right?” And finally, Dante awkwardly and briefly returned her hug, before disengaging from her grasp. “You should think on it. And really, if you ask me… I don’t think I have the answer for you, but you deserve happiness, too. Here, Kalina Ann and Kalina Ann II. I know I probably owe you a hefty late fee for these, but we can hash that out later.” 

Tears were already trying to well up in the corner of her eyes. “Stupid.” And she walked over to the Kalina Ann II, picked it up, and handed it to him. “Keep it. This one is yours now. No fees.”

“But--”

“You brought me back my original. I had Nico make the second one because after the fight with Urizen, I thought the original was lost for good. This is… my token…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. Couldn’t really say the meaning behind this action. 

But Dante understood. Though this was a replica and a replacement for her original, the name itself, and the weapon type, was intrinsically a part of her past that was once shared and entwined with his. The story of how a foolish little brother and a wronged daughter met in a tower, and had a fight about their family drama. 

“I don’t think I deserve this, Lady. And honestly, you could probably do better than someone like me.”

“Then give me time to think about it.” Even though her heart felt set. “Hold on to it for now.” She insisted. 

Seeing that he couldn’t sway her any further, he slung the marbled white rocket launcher over his shoulder, and glanced over at the original against the wall. 

“Did you know that Nico had added some sort of upgrade that the two of these can combine into one, and fire a sick canon beam? I don’t know what she was thinking, when she added that function. Even I could feel the kickback, so I wouldn’t ever try suggesting you try it out yourself. Might dislocate something. But maybe sometime down the line, if you want me to tag along on a job in the outskirts, I can show you what genius she put in.”

This was in no way what anyone would call a conventional prompt for a date after her mess of a confession. But what else could she expect from a half-devil?

Besides, she knew a long time ago that she would never be able to settle for normal.

“I’ll let you know, then, when such a job comes around.” And finally, since hearing that he had come back, Lady smiled.

* * *

When it comes to Trish, Lady found that they bonded best over hunting, clothing shopping, and drinking. 

And almost a whole year after Dante and Vergil came back from Hell, a lot went down. 

The rocky relationship between Vergil and Nero was patching up slowly but surely. Lady really had no advice she could offer on that front, but Nero was honestly a saint among the Sparda Kin, and though it was hard at first, he gave Vergil his patience while Vergil worked on being a better person overall. (Oh, he was still an absolute ass, but even a devil like him managed to learn to appreciate family.)

Dante finally put in some more effort into his shop front, mainly in the repairs department. Asking him to clean was oftentime too much, and even Vergil only put up with it for so long. Eventually, once Vergil and Nero got to a point where they could interact better, Vergil left the Devil May Cry shop and moved to Fortuna with the excuse that he was going to help sort and recover the books there, and also see if he could restore a library or two, there. 

(Within the year, the first thing he did was set up a small home-library for the orphans that Nero and Kyrie fostered, and then began working on a library at the orphanage itself. Though he was still uncertain around kids, the children who liked having stories told to them managed to get him to warm up to them a little. It was a miracle, really.)

And as time passed, Nero and Kyrie finally decided they were ready for marriage. 

So, having been invited, Trish dragged Lady out dress shopping. It was going to be a fairly private ceremony, but Trish insisted that Lady needed to wear something different and nice. 

“So, it’s been almost an entire year. I’d say things are still going pretty steady. And you seem to be doing pretty well.” Trish noted as she pulled a garment off the rack. “But when are you going to tell him?”

“Tell him what?” Lady suddenly felt a little panicked, unsure if Trish was referring to what she thought she was.

“That you’re expecting.”

Immediately, Lady shushed her: “No! I mean… it’s just a hunch. I wouldn’t be sure yet…”

“You haven’t taken a test or anything?”

“Not yet! I think it’s still too early to tell. I just…”

Trish just grinned and tossed a few dresses her way. “Don’t put it off too long, like you did the last time when you needed to tell him something important. Besides, if it’s true, you won’t be able to hide it for too long. Now, go try these on. I think I picked out some good ones. If it turns out you are pregnant, these dresses would still work when you start sporting a belly.”

“Geeze, Trish, I didn’t think you’d be so excited for something like this. I’m over 40, my missing cycle might just be menopause.” Lady mumbled as she caught the dresses. Though, the idea that she might have missed her entire chance to be a mother did make her feel a little sad… for the longest time she couldn’t decide, but now that she allowed herself something that resembled a relationship…

She knew that Dante could come to love a kid. Saw how he always had a soft spot for children. 

Still…

“Besides, if I am pregnant, I… I don’t know, at my age this is kind of risky…”

“Have you _looked_ at yourself? Lady, maybe it’s time you realized it, but you still have a shred of Sparda’s blessing in your blood, from your ancestor. You might not age for a while to come. Now go show me how those dresses look on you.” 

Trish did have a point, Lady thought as she was ushered into a dressing room, and she stared at the mirror for a while. 

She then walked closer to the mirror, and placed a hand on the glass as she inspected her heterochromatic eyes. 

Having seen Nero, Lady had to wonder if the genetic lottery with those of Sparda’s blood will always be fated to have features so strongly seen in either Vergil or Dante. 

Would her father’s cursed eye genetics be passed down to her kid, also?

* * *

She didn’t think the truth was going to bring such a turnabout of events. 

First of all, she had a moment of panic when she confirmed her pregnancy with an over the counter test, and flipped through as many books as she could find about complications to do with part-devil pregnancies. 

Obviously, she found nothing, and no one else had any information, either. 

But, most surprisingly, and relieving, was that once Dante got past the initial shock of things, he did everything he could to help her. 

And eventually, she decided it was time to stop dancing around the topic of living arrangements, and moved into the very office whose name was inspired by something she had said to him, over twenty something years ago. 

She had never allowed herself to be so close to someone before, but in the year that she had slowly spent, working things out with Dante to amount to something like a relationship between them, never had she felt so comforted to lean back into him, his arms circled about her. 

“I suppose I finally have a use for that money I saved up.” She told him when she first brought back the 12 week ultrasound photo. She was staring at it with disbelief that what was shown on this photo was inside her. Other than the morning sickness and some bloating, she really didn’t feel the reality sink in yet. 

“You don’t have to dip into that right now. I promise, Lady, I’ll be able to take care of you both.” 

Within the year, she eventually convinced him to actually visit Tiki and Nesty, and ever since that visit, the warm gratitude from the girls seemed to finally sweep away the last of Dante’s pain on the things that happened in the past. 

The girls were doing fine, and it finally came for the time for Dante to acknowledge that he had done more than enough for them. So, in present time, he did have a bit more freedom in his budget, and he will happily put that budget towards the new things in _his and hers_ life. 

So, the months went on. Nero and Kyrie finally had their wedding. Lady thought it a good time to tease them about “getting busy,” which was received with blushes and a very resolute: “We have enough going on. The kids we take care of now need our attention, more.”

Bummer. Lady was looking forward to seeing Vergil deal with being called “grandpa.” That’s sure to make him squirm for a while. 

But as far as she was concerned, that was going to be an inevitable scenario. If Nero and Kyrie didn’t have a kid of their own soon, then it was the matter of the fostered children. She already heard thoughts of the couple wanting to adopt them officially, so that counted towards the scenario well enough. 

And speaking of children, the little girl she was carrying was a downright gymnast, performing somersaults in her belly. And she honestly couldn’t even blame Dante for this attribute. She herself was never one to be quiet and still, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to hone herself for combat so readily. 

She didn’t expect for her pregnancy to be so well-received from _everyone_. And she did mean everyone. 

Morrison congratulated her with: “About time either of you two settled down. And just as well if it’s with each other. You know how harsh these jobs can be. You two are among the few of my long time clients. Most don’t live long once they start playing with the demon factors. At this point, it makes me happier to know that you two can afford a bit more sunshine against the bleak odds.”

Trish, as it turned out, was dying to become a proper aunt. The demoness had learnt a lot about being human in the years of walking the earth, and after discovering Nero, some part of her thought that it would be a good experience for her to try out more of this thing called “family.” But being an artificial demon, she was sterile either way. But that was fine with her. She didn’t think she could deal with raising “a brat of her own.” But she’ll “be happy to help babysit and spoil the little princess.”

Nero clearly liked kids enough to be raising three under his roof already. Though part of it had to do with his background as an orphan, it was clear that Nero was a natural at taking care of kids. An odd trait, to think that he came from the likes of Vergil. After hearing the news, Kyrie was very excited for everyone, and reminded Nero that this was going to be his _cousin_. He assured Lady that if she needed help with anything, or if she had questions, to let them know. Though they didn’t deal with a lot of newborns, they could be helpful through the rest of the journey in child rearing. 

Meanwhile, Nico brought up: “Hey, Lady. When your little princess is ready to be battle-ready, you come to me. I’m not going to miss an opportunity like this for my best returning client, or miss out on sharing my art with Dante’s kid.” Lady couldn’t really discourage Nico from the thought by much. Dante and her both knew that this child will not have a normal life. Even Nero, who was raised among humans for so long, eventually awoken to his demonic heritage. 

It was better to acclimate this new child properly, than to hide them from it. 

And most surprisingly, was Vergil’s reaction. 

“You are a good match for my brother. I trust that the two of you will be able to provide a good life for this child. This makes you family, now. And I know you have little reason to believe me, but you have my vow that I will no longer be absent should anything threaten family.”

Coming from him, this actually meant a lot. She didn’t explicitly thank him, but she did thank him with an acceptance of his words. 

* * *

Happiness came in a bundle of joy, with white hair and heterochromatic eyes. When Lady first saw their daughter open her eyes, she thought immediately that her little one had Arkham’s cursed eyes. But upon closer inspection, that wasn’t the entire case. 

Though her left eye was red like her own, her right eye was not the same bluish-green, but instead, the bright blue that she knew was Dante’s. 

When it came to names, they had a hard time deciding. At first, Lady suggested Eva, and funnily enough, Dante asked if she wanted to go with Kalina. By the end, neither of them felt like the name was right. After all, there were still two rocket launchers that shared the name Kalina, and Dante didn’t feel that it was right to settle on Eva.

But there was still another option that Dante brought up:

“This memory has become very vague now, but when Vergil was running around as a skinny goth with a cane, his little chicken friend and the big cat reminded me of our mom’s familiars.”

He rarely spoke of his childhood, and this got Lady’s attention. 

“Mom was a witch. I can still remember this big black wolf that would follow us around sometimes and keep us out of trouble. Nowell. But mom also had a raven familiar. Lenore. And, well, I don’t feel right naming my daughter after my mom, but I’m down for something related to my memories of her.”

So it was decided. 

Their daughter’s name was Lenore. And Dante doted on her in a way that made Lady’s heart melt every time. 

Some part of her thought that… though impossible, if she ever had the choice to redo some of her choices, she would choose to be honest with Dante earlier. That in a different scenario, maybe their daughter wouldn’t be too much younger than Patty by now. 

But right now, even if it’s a long time coming, she finally felt like she had moved forward from her past. 

She trusted Dante, and knew that he would never willingly do anything to hurt his family. 

She knew that their daughter would be protected by arguably the most powerful devil hunters in the world. 

She knew that, as a united family, they would stand up against whatever tried to knock them down. 

That if they get hurt, they will heal together, and continue to find happiness together. 

And that as family, there were no debts between them. Only love, and gratitude. 

**Author's Note:**

> \- I am acknowledging some of the events of one of the novels, but I’m going to be honest with you: that content is old and I pronounce it "outdated and in need of correction." I have my own twists on what happened in that time period. But ultimately, some people still died.  
> \- I will admit, I have the hardest time shipping anything if it doesn’t somehow involve children in the end. Call it a personal taste of the kind of fantasy I like.  
> \- Ah… Someday I should write some of the tales of little Princess Lenore. And yes, no matter what AU I write, a daughter for Dante will always be called “Princess” somewhere in my books. <3


End file.
